Like my old 98. I knew it had some damage, but didn't know til years later what other damage had been there. Then all the stupid little things made sense. Car had been t-boned and (mostly) fixed. Better than some apparently! But still, things were off. And it was a clean carfax. Goes to show carfax doesn't know everything.

 

I agree with @1FastBrick that taking it into a frame shop to measure is a good route. Even if you are ambitious enough to cut and replace damaged sections you will need to know how far off things might be. Unibody frames act funny when hit and can warp/buckle pulling and pushing things off in unexpected places. One thing I recently went through. I ended up with my Moms old 2016 Nissan and got into a "minor" fender bender that shattered the decorative front end piece of the car. Nothing mechanical seemed to be impacted, it drove and acted fine, no leaks or electrical issues outside of the headlight covers being shattered. Body shop came back with an original estimate of $4k to fix, seemed steep but it is warrantied for a year/10k miles and insurance was paying. Well, they started pulling parts off to ID all the replacements they needed and some inside body panels had "started to crumple" and needed to be replaced. Estimate increased 50% and the insurance company totaled the car. Engine, transmission, AC, everything worked fine but as thin as the metal is and how it is designed once an impact is made it changes the rigidness of the area impacted. This is more of a safety consideration in my opinion so the body will perform as engineered if an impact occurs. Mine was a very low speed (less than 10 mph and no airbags deployed) impact but significant damage to AC coil housing, lighting brackets, impact bumper mounts, inner fender wheel wells, hood, etc. If the car was making a 1/4 mile run and smacked a wall there was most likely significant more inertia acting on the unibody.

You can definitely cut the damage out and re-weld in straighter pieces but in order to get everything to fit again you will need to make sure it is all square and level. The only way I see to do this is know if it is straight now and if not how far off it is and how Had I tried to restore the Nissan I could but then the car would have a salvage title and I could only get liability insurance and all the hassle of getting it inspected and certified to be registered for road use again. In the long haul it wasn't worth it to me. As you still owe on your car it is a way different consideration. One thing, you now know all these things that were hidden before now and if you ever decide to sell it that will be a huge factor to the next owner. Having it professionally evaluated as far as the frame before and after your fixes will add weight to a "yes but" conversation (yes the car was in a past crack up but it was fixed and this is how it was done and here is how that turned out... kind of thing). This is one hell of an expensive lesson but has some great learning potential attached. One take away, talk to your insurance company and make sure you understand how the policy works and what the thresholds are for repair/total cutoffs. As these cars get older you will need to shift from traditional to specialty insurance (these policies come with unique conditions). These days body shops charges are astronomical and something non-OEM/used parts can't make up for the way they could just 10 years ago.

 

Thank you all for the time, replies, first hand knowledge which is worth so much.

I still go back and forth with this. Like I said I have a whole new rail for the fender and whole core support. I am definitely getting more hesitant to tackle it because im not a welder, even if the welds hold and the body lines up better there is still the safety concern like mentioned. How much impact can metal take and still be safe, if I were to get in a wreck who says it doesn't just crumble. This has been a very expensive lesson unfortunately and I have been told to sell it but I'm to honest to not mention all the damage so I'd 100% be upside down and lose out massive. The best bet is to find a roller and the likely path I am going to take. I keep seeing camaros but I want a bird, it's my dream car. I had intentions of building the hell out of this, 700whp+, so all those supporting mods could go into a roller and in the mean time I still have this one running and driving.

 

Well to bring this back from the dead I'm going to tube it. I had bought a fender rail, core support, and that frame rail/crash bar whatever you want to call it. Cut it all up last night and MAN I over estimated how difficult this would be. I read plenty and ya know, I'm ambitious and being sober now I like to stay busy so really thought why not?!? It's a big project to keep my mind busy and I have nothing but time. Trying to get the frame rail in place and have it be straight and get the core support straight with that also is just a terror. So in the same breathe of staying busy I'm going to say screw it and go tubular. Should open up space for my intercooler piping and have a better chance of having all my body panels line up.

 

Fellas.....she's toast. When the fender rail is installed and flush with the thin metal lip in the engine bay side, it's 3/4 of a inch more narrow than the actual core support. I tried throwing the bumper and fenders on before I realized and I think it might also be smashed inwards as well because even length wise it wasn't completely lining up with the holes in the fender. I think it's a loss which sucks because if you haven't read from the beginning I still have about 3 years left on a loan. I think it's time for a roller and then just stuck making payments and full coverage on a shell that's gonna sit till it's scraped upon payoff.
I honestly don't even think tubing the front out would fix it unless a went from firewall forward and even then who knows. Just doesn't seem like a good platform for a built procharged 6.0, on meth, and e85...(humble brag of what I'm in the middle of because damn i need that little pick me up because I'm disappointed)

 

Sorry to hear it. I was, I think we all were, looking forward to a build thread. It takes a lot to throw in the towel. Hopefully you'll find a way to get what you want out of this.

 

I found a 95 roller near me. i can transfer everything over and start a build thread on that one plus the tahoe soon.

 

if it has full coverage on it , id bolt it together as best you can. and put it on a trailer dont tie it down go for a ride through some back country roads , and get rid of the 3year loan........... maybe even buy it back from the insurance company and come out ahead with the parts you still want....... just saying.....

 

oh trust me it crossed my mind but I'm tall and very skinny so I'm definitely not built for prison ya know. Yeah it's a bad situation I found myself in but the roller can be had for probably 600, so not to much more money all things considered.

 

Roller is the only logical fix, and it was from the beginning. I dont see a problem with the loan, you were makig payments anyways so whats the differance?
Plenty of cars have been swapped like this before....... I would worry with swaping some numbers around as long as you dont try and sell it as something its not....

 

kind of my thought too. Wrecked and roller or if this was never wrecked I'd make my payments till paid off so the roller isn't much more...less than 2 extra payments.
I thought about the numbers swap too but also I just get nervous and overthink.

 

It would only be an issue if you go to sell it, seems once a car is so old though nobody cares. Heck you can even buy a body and attach a old Vin to it on some old 50s 60's and 70s cars...
Like I said just dont try and sell it as something its not.

 

kind of my thought too. Wrecked and roller or if this was never wrecked I'd make my payments till paid off so the roller isn't much more...less than 2 extra payments.
I thought about the numbers swap too but also I just get nervous and overthink.

 

Given these cars are mostly modular with the subframes and supports there is quite a bit you can swap out while keeping the main body intact (what the VIN is attached to). You could replace everything from the firewall forward if needed, better than cutting and welding back together damaged supports. I wouldn't think about recovering your costs to get into it, just take as a lesson learned on inspecting condition more closely in the future. If you have the room the roller will be a great option so you can have parts and templates for building out future project from.

 

way further back in this thread there is a picture of the gap between windshield and t top and I can put my pinky in there, the door isn't the original either so with how this much has already gone I don't trust trying to even attempt anymore on this. I'd have room for the roller for the work but after id definitely have to store this cut up one I currently have. I've already been in talks with the guy selling the roller. My tahoe daily has started misfiring so I gotta fix that and then move back with this.

 

My advice:

Strip every usable thing off the original car, anything that's not destroyed (interior parts, exterior trim, glass, removable body panels that are not junk, ALL of it). These parts are worth money, or could be useful to you in the future if you ever need them. I've actually considered buying rollers or parts cars in the past, just to strip them down for spare parts that aren't reproduced or available any longer. Even if you completely exit 4th gen F-body ownership or the hobby in general, there is money in those parts. Places like Hawks, etc., would probably buy those parts from you if nothing else, or you could sell them yourself if you have the time.

Then, junk the garbage shell that's left.

 

oh I love these 4th gens, especially the 98-02 birds so I definitely don't want to be out of it. But yes you are completely right, every bolt, screw, etc would need to be saved because the market.

 

I'd get a roller. In fact, that's what I did with my car. The underside had rust I couldn't see because it was initially too low to the ground to get under it. They actively sprayed over rust on the shock towers and the engine bay so I couldn't see it. It took me a bit but I eventually noticed that the front had been hit. I ended up buying a roller and swapping the good stuff over. It was a pain, but it was the best solution.

 

I'm hoping to pick up the roller this weekend. I know it's not gonna be easy because it was a lt1 car but like said before I like the staying busy so it'll be a good winter project time killer.

 

For what its worth, I got the engine, transmission and almost everything in the engine bay plus the head lights back in over a three day weekend. Granted, it was a long three days but it can be done. I did everything but guiding the engine and transmission into the car solo. I had my girlfriend help guide the assembly at the bottom. I put the engine in through the top, but removed it from the old one from the bottom. This was because the K-Member and suspension on the old car was jacked up and I didn't want to deal with those pieces.

I had never undertaken such a project before doing that.